Tag Archives: vocabulary
English Spring Phrases Posted by Gary Locke on Mar 21, 2019
In the Northern Hemisphere, spring begins on March 21st and continues until June 21. It is the season of renewal. Daylight increases, warmth gradually returns, and birds and animals reappear. Spring, in the words of the late comedian Robin Williams, is Nature’s way of saying “Let’s Party!” One of the first signs of spring in…
Untranslatable Words in English Posted by Gary Locke on Feb 14, 2019
As you may know, Transparent Language publishes blogs dedicated to many different languages. One of the great things about my job is that I have the pleasure of reading them all. One topic which appears on many of these pages is the untranslatable word. German is loaded with them, but I’ve seen the subject come…
Speaking of Walls Posted by Gary Locke on Jan 9, 2019
We’re hearing a lot about walls these days. The President of the US wants one built along the southern border with Mexico, Congress doesn’t. Some days they substitute the word fence, but the meaning doesn’t change very much. It may be the single most controversial topic in the English-speaking world right now. Walls have also…
Top English Blog Posts of 2018 Posted by Gary Locke on Dec 27, 2018
We have arrived at the end of another year. It is traditional to look back and reflect on what was on our minds over the preceding 12 months and to see which blogs got your attention. After all, we write these pieces for you, to help you understand our language and the culture in which…
Should English Idioms be Modernized? Posted by Gary Locke on Dec 6, 2018
PETA, the animal rights organization, has proposed that we should reimagine some common English phrases to be more respectful of other species. They argue that phrases such as “I killed two birds with one stone” are as cruel as any hate speech. Similarly, a British researcher believes that, eventually, meat-based metaphors and sayings will be…
When English Offers Choices Posted by Gary Locke on Nov 29, 2018
This past week I witnessed a customer at a store point to something and say, “I’ll have two of those.” Before placing the items in a bag and finalizing the sale, the clerk said, “These ones?” That response by the clerk was a redundancy, the use of an extra word which wasn’t needed. Because the…
The English Word of the Year, 2018 Posted by Gary Locke on Nov 21, 2018
The editors of The Oxford Dictionaries, published by the Oxford University Press, have selected toxic as the 2018 English word of the year. It is a brilliant, if somewhat controversial, selection. In a year of intense divisiveness in the English-speaking world, it is easy to see why this word, and its association with all that…